Hope

"It was interesting last night as we were reviewing the week and realized that we actually did a lot! (wahoo) The weeks just keep coming and they don't slow down at all. It is true what they say, the days are long, the weeks are fast, and now this transfer is coming close to an end which is sad because I may be leaving Elder Adams when it is over.  That's not for a little while so I wont depress myself quite yet by thinking of such." He really loves having Elder Adams as his companion, they work hard and get along really well. He said this last week they wanted to focus more on working in the town to get more members there. I guess that there are a lot of Afrikaans people there, because he said they get yelled at a lot by them haha. They don't want much to do with any religion compared to the Zulu people. He said that they have been focusing on working hard lately because "We were promised by our mission president that if we worked hard and had the desire that we would be able to find a new family to teach every week. He wasn't kidding. ever since then (two weeks ago) we have found a fam to teach. Sadly none are really progressing but good things come to those who wait (so I am told)." Hopefully those people they are teaching progress and have the desire to come closer to the Lord!

"The area is still great, I still just love the view all around and seeing all the green vegetation and beautiful ocean! It is such a pretty place here and I would love to come visit as a tourist on holiday when I can just relax and soak up all the  beauty. They said that they had 2 million foreigners during the holidays here in Durban! crazy!!! You can see why I say life was tough during that time as a missionary haha."

He found his mom's name on a license plate!

"I do it for the FAM"

"So the ward I am in is really into soccer, we get to play a lot. Every Friday to be exact. We have that as our weekly practice and now they are starting up the season where we will have games more often. We play against other wards and we are probably the second best soccer team in the stake. (We still arn't that good)  I was just now assigned to be in charge of running practice and doing drills and what not, so I guess it looks like I am the new appointed coach which is a little weird. I have been playing full back and its been pretty okay but our goalie was not up to par so I will now replace him in hopes of not being scored on every shot. Its really fun being able to play soccer frequently. Perks of serving outside of the states I guess. The only problem playing here is the humidity. You are super sweaty by the time you have taken a short jog. It can be rough in the heat. We are playing against another ward on Saturday so I am supposed to come up with a game plan and practice to make us win.... we will see haha..."

They got to go to a place called Croc World for their zone activity last week which means we got awesome pictures!

Tucans!

An Eagle

Comforting sign

Croc burger!

The craziest thing he said to me in our personal email was that he wants to read books when he gets back... What??? He always said he didn't like reading or "What are books?" haha so this is a pretty big deal. I'm quoting exactly what he said so I have evidence that he actually said it :) "You sound like you are happy and doing verry well, I dont know I could just hear your voice in this email and they way you were saying things haha its seemed like you were happy and it made me super giddly, I giggled a couple times reading your email haha. Classes sound both great and bad haha hopefully the teaching ones will be nice! I am kind of jealous that you get to be learning all these cool things and I feel like I am becoming more and more uneducated. I have decided that I actually have a desire to read some books now, not necessarily story but books about economics or how things work and what what. I really do enjoy learning and just having knowledge over a wide range, as a missionary we meet lots of people and its always cool to talk to super smart people that just know a lot of things and how they got to that point was usually by reading books. so there is some incentive now for me to read.... weird, I really am growing up arnt I.... I dont wanna grow up, I like being a silly kid haha, I guess I will just be one of those adults who is still a teenager at heart :) I am excited to go on camp outs and stuff with my kids especially the boys when they are in scouts and stuff :)"

He talked about hope in the group email and I really liked what he had to say. Hope has always been a topic that I've liked studying because I think hope is a wonderful thing for all of us to have. "HOPE

I love hope, Hope is a bit different then a lot of people think. It isn't just the want for something good to come your way but it in fact is the assurance that good will come your way! It is quite interesting. according to wikipedia "definitions include: "expect with confidence" " it is something that we optimistically look forward to with confidence in the good will of God sure that He will uplift, support, encourage, and give good things to us. The world now a days has put a connotation of hope being a wishful type of thought and not really believing that it will happen

From a talk that President Uchtdorf gave he said:

"We hope in Jesus the Christ, in the goodness of God, in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered. Because God has been faithful and kept His promises in the past, we can hope with confidence that God will keep His promises to us in the present and in the future. In times of distress, we can hold tightly to the hope that things will “work together for [our] good” (D&C 90:24) as we follow the counsel of God’s prophets. This type of hope in God, His goodness, and His power refreshes us with courage during difficult challenges and gives strength to those who feel threatened by enclosing walls of fear, doubt, and despair." (Conference Address, October 2008)"

It's so crazy because as of tomorrow, Mikel and I will have been dating for two whole years! Looking back on it it feels like time has flown by. And also as of this week, he's been out for 7 months!! I have no idea where the time is going but it's both wonderful and scary all at the same time. Of course I want him to come home and by the time 2 years is over I'll be ready for him to come home, but I always worry that time will change me in a way that will lead to our relationship not working out. I know that no matter what happens it will be exactly what the Lord has planned for us, but I like to think that I have control of it sometimes :) I just hope that by the time he comes home both of us will have grown as a person into exactly who we need to be. 2 years goes a lot faster than you think, and there's only 17 more months left!

"My week was pretty great :) I dont know, it was interesting, I feel like we didnt work super hard but yet our stats beg to differ so I guess we worked smart not hard haha we found some success in finding a couple new people so thats always good. Um I am not sure what thing I focused on the most, I dont really have much time to just study what I want, I usually read some of PMG and then book of mormon to just learn more and to better teach. I guess I studied a bit on peace and hope this week though, I really love hope and Ill talk more of it soon. I also have been reading my patriarchal  blessing to become more antiquated with it. um I guess something that I am struggling with is being more optimistic and having that hope (assurance for good) in mission and after mission, you know me, I worry to much and think to much in my head then just with my heart and hoping and believing that all will work out. In isiZulu (I dont know how to spell it but you get the idea) de deli kas which means let the blood flow, just relax and let the blood flow haha.  Um I dont know if there really is anything that I am excelling in, I am still just trying to learn how to be a good missionary so I think excelling may come much later :)

I never thought that I would be day dreaming of the love of my life 10235 miles away and praying for the day I get to see her again.

With all the love of my heart and soul

Elder Mookie"